Smith Named 2002 Public Health Hero

Judith M. Smith, M.P.H., nursing director for Public Health Area 2 with the Alabama Department of Public Health, recently received the 2002 Public Health Hero Award from the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

Posted on May 16, 2002 at 10:45 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Judith M. Smith, M.P.H., nursing director for Public Health Area 2 with the Alabama Department of Public Health, recently received the 2002 Public Health Hero Award from the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Smith, who lives in Cullman, Alabama, is the state’s public health nursing director for Cullman, Jackson, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall and Morgan counties.

The award and a check for $1,000 — funded by Mr. Peter Cowin and the Hillcrest Foundation — was presented to Smith in recognition of her public health efforts to improve and protect the health of Alabamians. “For Ms. Smith, ensuring healthy communities in Alabama isn’t just a job; it’s her passion,” says Dr. Max Michael, dean of the School of Public Health at UAB. “She is the true essence of a public health servant and hero.”

Friends and colleagues nominated Smith for the award based on her service to Alabama communities, particularly those in Public Health Area 2. Among her contributions, she has written grants on behalf of the Department of Human Resources for funding to reduce unwed pregnancies; she worked with the Alabama Public Safety Car Seat Project and the Tobacco Coalition project to reduce teenage smoking; she established a bilingual education and training center in Marshall County; and she is a volunteer with the American Red Cross.

Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, Smith led a team of Alabama public health nurses from northeast Alabama to New York City. There, the team provided nursing care to family members of those involved in the attacks and to rescue workers searching for survivors.

In a nomination letter, one of Smith’s co-workers writes: “She accomplishes more in a day than most people accomplish in a week … and she inspires others to accomplish. In my 27 years in public health, I don’t know of anyone who has made a bigger impact than Judy Smith.”

Smith, an alumnus of the UAB’s School of Public Health, graduated with honors from the master’s in public health weekend program in 1992 to continue her life’s work in public health, a career path she began in 1973.